


Shifting Puzzles

by Zoadgo



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:58:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoadgo/pseuds/Zoadgo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke ends up worming her way into Lexa’s mind, a puzzle that she tries desperately to figure out even though it seems to shift in her grasp. She sees metal in Clarke’s gaze, a fierce fire that understands the price of living. But then she sees the girl within, in the way that Clarke carries herself so consciously, making sure Lexa knows she’s unafraid with so much care that it must mean she’s terrified. She allows her people to call her Princess, yet never requires them to address her by a title. She has their respect but does nothing to demand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shifting Puzzles

Lexa didn’t understand the Sky People. Their ways confused her, frightened her. She was unable to predict their reactions, to even make a guess as to what they would do in any given situation. They seemed to see her people as less than themselves, but then they fought amongst themselves and no one stepped in to establish order. They were chaos to her iron control, yet they thought themselves more evolved, thought the Twelve Tribes were savages.

Lexa hated them as a whole, as a faceless enemy that was determined to ruin her way of life and murder those who relied on her for protection. She had no issues with sending them warnings in the form of death, sending raiding parties lead by her most ruthless soldiers to destroy them. That was until she had met a Sky Person, come face to face with one person from the whole, and suddenly they were people, not enemies.

The men had confused her. One had tried to kill her, and the other had tried to kill himself. She couldn’t comprehend how they both came from the same tribe, how there could be any form of culture if people were allowed to react so drastically differently under the same circumstances. She had questioned their leader without being able to figure out who it was, and then she had come striding into Lexa’s camp.

The first time Lexa laid eyes on Clarke, she knew why the Sky People were so disorganized. It was nothing to do with the girl in front of her, strong yet compassionate in her call for peace. It laid in the way that her own people looked at her, specifically the woman who must be her mother. While Clarke was clearly a Commander in her own right, that woman still looked at her as a child. Lexa would have killed anyone for questioning her authority in that manner, and had done so quite a few times.

The leader ends up worming her way into Lexa’s mind, a puzzle that she tries desperately to figure out even though it seems to shift in her grasp. She sees metal in Clarke’s gaze, a fierce fire that understands the price of living. But then she sees the girl within, in the way that Clarke carries herself so consciously, making sure Lexa knows she’s unafraid with so much care that it must mean she’s terrified. She allows her people to call her Princess, yet never requires them to address her by a title. She has their respect but does nothing to demand it.

When Lexa had called for the life of Clarke’s lover, she hadn’t realized who he was. She just needed the murderer to pay for what he’d done to her people, needed them to understand her people’s customs and feel a fraction of the pain she felt on hearing the news of the massacre in Tondc. But then she had seen Clarke’s face, and a part of Lexa that had long since been dormant began to regret calling for his blood.

She had tried to comfort Clarke, in her own way. She saw Clarke send the boy off as a warrior who had fallen in battle, at the same time blessing Lexa’s people who had fallen by his hand. She saw Clarke breaking, staring at nothing and jumping at shadows. Lexa had been so focused on Clarke that she hadn’t seen Gustus poison her cup.

The fire within Clarke made itself known again, dancing along the sharp edge of her resolve as she drank the moonshine to prove it was not the Sky People’s doing. And this time, Lexa saw none of the fear. The pain had purged Clarke of such impurities of the spirit, of the fear that alters one’s actions and devours one’s mind. And Lexa saw the moment, after Gustus’ body was laid to rest as a warrior whose shame was purged in blood, when Clarke denied the pain within her. After that, there was nothing left within her but forged steel, broken and melted down until it became something more pure than many could hope to imagine.

And that’s how Lexa finds her one night, sitting next to one of the communal fires and staring into it. The Sky People and her own tribe mingle, some comparing notes on herbs and chemicals while the warriors laugh boisterously as guards attempt to keep up with their daily exercises. Nothing like heading off to battle together to bring two groups closer.

She sits next to Clarke silently, knowing the look on her face very well. It had graced her own on more than one occasion, a concentration that sees something beyond what is physically in front of it. She knows Clarke has seen her, knows the other woman is fully aware of her surroundings for all that she seems lost in thought. Clarke will talk to her when she’s ready, and when that happens, Lexa will listen.

No one bothers the couple, although a few glances are shot their way. Warriors eager to learn of the plan, healers nervous over what the next week may bring. But interested parties quickly fade away when it becomes apparent that if there is any communication going on, it’s certainly not verbal. The silence sits between them comfortably for a long time, like a third member in a group, and then Clarke breaks it.

“What if we can’t get them out?” She doesn’t move or look up, and Lexa looks at the sky as she contemplates her answer. Clarke’s people had come from there, hidden away amongst the stars. Even at their peak, when they had still been at one with the night sky, Clarke’s people had never outnumbered Lexa’s since the Twelve Clans joined. 

“We will have ended their suffering and given them an honourable death.” There’s no point in lying to the woman beside her, Clarke knows that if the Mountain Men decide to execute their people, there’s nothing either of them can do about it.

“What will happen to us?” Lexa thinks of her own people. To them, those inside the mountain are already dead. They fight more for the sake of future generations or simply for the sake of war than they do to rescue those within. But the Sky People still think of their children as they were among the stars, refusing to acknowledge that they’ve changed, and that many of them are probably dead.

“We will mourn, each in our own way.” Her people would burn their dead and recite words, the Sky People would scream their anguish to the heavens that had once been their home. “We will hurt, and we will break. But we will survive.”

Clarke nods, and Lexa watches her lips form the word “we” without making any noise. Then she turns to look at Lexa, for the first time since she’d sat down, and Lexa sees a trace of uncertainty in her eyes.

“What about me?”

And Lexa knows that doubt. When you’ve come so close to destruction before, how do you know you won’t break at the slightest push? From within, the mind seems like such a fragile thing, like any moment of weakness will break it. But Lexa can see Clarke through impartial eyes, or from the viewpoint of one who has fought against and now alongside her. No matter what, Lexa sees no cracks for grief to exploit. She’ll feel the pain, but it won’t break her.

Lexa places her hand on Clarke’s shoulder, gripping tightly. She can feel the strength of muscle and bones beneath her grasp, and she allows Clarke to feel Lexa’s own fortitude. Even should Clarke begin to fall, despite all odds, Lexa will not allow that to happen. Clarke and Lexa will lead their people as equals, she can feel it in her bones.

“We will survive.”

And this time there’s a certainty in Clarke’s eyes. For many of them, there is no “we” without the Princess, and she’s finally starting to accept that. And Lexa sees in front of her someone who demands respect through soundness of character, rather than words or deeds. The both open their eyes to realities previously unknown to them, and then they plan their invasion in earnest.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this iiiiis. I wrote this as I was about to fall asleep?? Anyway, I just have a lot of feelings about Clarke and Lexa, so expect a fair few fics for them from me. Edited by my astonishingly quick editor [coldsaturn!](http://coldsaturn.tumblr.com)
> 
> I'd love to talk with you guys [on tumblr!](http://jonnmurphy.tumblr.com) And, as always, thanks for commenting/viewing/leaving kudos <3


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